Town Hall Meeting Speakers

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Speakers' Biographies

Quanhe Yang, PhD

Senior Scientist, Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC

Dr. Yang’s current research interests include cardiovascular disease epidemiology and statistical methodology for epidemiology research, cardiovascular disease risk estimation and prevention in population, and the association between lifestyle changes—including diet behaviors and physical activities—on cardiovascular outcomes. Dr. Yang has authored more than 90 peer-reviewed publications on topics such as public health genomics, birth defects, and cardiovascular disease.

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Melanie Rightmyer, DNP, RN

Health Systems Program Manager, Chronic Disease Programs Branch

A health systems program manager for the Alabama Department of Public Health, Melanie Rightmyer has 28 years of experience as a nurse and has been awarded the Marksmanship Service Award, Operation Desert Storm Service Medal, and American Heart Association Stroke Ambassador Award. When she is not writing training courses on blood pressure measurement, implementation of blood pressure protocols, or calculating return on investment for self-management, you can find Dr. Rightmyer composing a musical storm on her keyboard. Her latest accomplishment was driven by a passion to see Alabamians with controlled blood pressure; she recruited an unstoppable, diverse team referred to as Alabama’s Million Hearts® Blood Pressure Task Force.

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Laura Oliven, MPP

Tobacco Control Manager, Minnesota Department of Health

Laura Oliven is the tobacco control manager for the Minnesota Department of Health. She leads the Tobacco Prevention and Control Unit in the Office of Statewide Health Improvement Initiatives and works closely with the Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Division, including the Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Unit. Oliven holds a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University and has been working on building healthy communities over the last 20 years at the federal, state, and local level. She specializes in prevention and health policy, systems, and environmental change. Before coming to state government, she was the principal of her own consulting firm, Oliven Policy Solutions.

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LorieAnn Wilkerson-Leconte, MPH

Diabetes, Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Manager, New Jersey Department of Health

LorieAnn Wilkerson-Leconte is the manager of the Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program, as well as the Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, at the New Jersey Department of Health. She oversees statewide implementation of evidence-based strategies to reduce the burden of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Wilkerson-Leconte is also the project lead for New Jersey’s CDC-funded coordinated initiative, “State Public Health Actions to Prevent and Control Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obesity and Associated Risk Factors and Promote School Health,” responsible for providing administrative and technical leadership to several chronic disease programs.

Wilkerson-Leconte has more than 20 years of experience in public health and disease prevention and has served as an international consultant in West Africa. Prior to joining the New Jersey Department of Health, Wilkerson-Leconte managed community-based participatory research interventions for pediatric asthma at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

She earned her master of public health degree in health policy and management from the University at Albany School of Public Health.

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